Trump announces talks with Iran on Monday

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said Sunday that negotiations with Iran will begin Monday afternoon, noting that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar had asked the United States to call off planned strikes because "they think there's a deal."

"There's a deal on (the Strait of) Hormuz, and then there will be a deal on the nuclear, or you might call it the denuclearization of Iran," Trump told reporters on Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews.

Claiming that Iran had also asked the United States to pull back the planned strikes, Trump said that "now what we're doing is we're talking to them in the form of a negotiation."

Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud spoke on the phone with Trump on Saturday and "expressed concern and asked for clarity" about the proposed plan of action against Iran, a US official told news outlet Axios.

Pakistan, Qatar, the UAE, Turkiye and other countries have also called on the United States and Iran to de-escalate tensions and avoid further conflict.